Events

TechHer Meets, a monthly networking event for women, held its debut event in Abuja yesterday the 30th of March, 2017 at 3J’s Hotel, Jabi, Abuja. TechHer Meets was designed to demystify technology, provide a safe, fun space for practical learning and foster economic empowerment by encouraging collaborations. The event seeks to provide an offline component for TechHer’s online activities.

The event featured three speakers; Simi Fajemirokun of ESFAJ and Partners, Stella Uzochuwku – Denis of Odyssey Foundation and Judy Melifonwu from IBM who shared of their experiences working as entrepreneurs, employees, and social enterprise owners. The sessions were interactive and an opportunity for knowledge sharing across a variety of topics.

Attendees won TechHer branded items from the networking competition and there was a table laden with drinks and snacks for everyone to feast on.

The two-hour long event also featured a question and answer session themed security which shared information on data privacy day, two-step verification and acceptable passwords.

The event ended with 14 of the attendees signing up for a free digital marketing class TechHer offered the women as a welcome gift.

TechHer Meets holds on the last Friday of every month. It is an initiative of TechHer, a community of learning, support and collaboration for women working with technology either as the core of their function or as an enabler.

TechHer is online as @TechHer NG on Facebook, Twitter,and Instagram is home at www.techherng.com and can be reached via 09083041940.

From left to right: Lara Raji, Onyejekwulum Adii, MD of ATV Hauwa Yabani, and Chioma Agwuegbo

TechHer, a community of learning, support, and collaboration for women in technology extended a hand of fellowship to Abuja Technology Village (ATV) via a courtesy call paid to its MD Ms. Hauwa Yabani on Thursday the 8th of December 2016.

Received by the MD and ATV’s Business Development Manager Ibrahim Bashir, the delegation from TechHer told the story of the growing community, its vision, and goals, highlighting successes recorded and plans for the coming year. Specifically, TechHer’s Continuous Learning and Development Programme (CLDP), several research strands, and the Mothers and Daughters Outreach were presented as potential projects for co-ownership. MD Hauwa Yabani said of the proposed partnership, “TechHer and ATV perfectly align on the creation of a viable platform to encourage women and girls into STEM and then attract them to the ATV.”

Mr. Bashir took the team on an extended presentation of the vision for the Abuja Technology Village, changes that have been made to the original development plans, and the sheer enormity of the project designed to be Africa’s leading technology and innovation district. The eco-friendly village designed to function without any generating sets will house about 40,000 people and see another 100,000 use the various facilities on-site. Construction is on schedule and will see the first set of structures completed in 2019.

Hauwa Yabani, MD of ATV shared her passion and excitement at the responsibility of leading the team, and about Women Innovation Hub (Winnohub); a specialist conducive atmosphere for women (single, married, employed or not) to congregate and innovate.

Speaking of Enspire Incubator which housed TechHer in its first few months of existence, the MD said, “Enspire was born out of the thought that the heartbeat of any science park is a functional incubator, and fits into our goals of attracting foreign Direct Investment, building local capacity, and encouraging STEM education”.

The meeting ended with an agreement to sign a draft MOU containing short and long term goals forthwith, and the presentation of branded TechHer items to management.

Chioma Agwuegbo led TechHer’s delegation which also had Programme Officer Onyejekwulum Adii and Researcher Lara Raji.

The Nigeria Innovation and Information Technology Expo (NIITEX) was borne out of the desire to celebrate technological advancement and innovation in Nigeria as well as create a platform for Nigerian businesses to market and potentially export Nigerian innovations to other parts of the world.

NIITEX launched its debut edition with a was a 3-dayTech Expo that started on the 11th of April 2016, at Ladi Kwali Hall, Sheraton Hotel Abuja.

Participants registered were in excess of 150, and there was a keynote address from the H.E the Deputy Governor of Jigawa State.

Mr Bankole Oloruntoba from Enspire Incubator discussed issues related to Tech/start-up Ecosystem, on the role of communication and connectivity in National Development. Alhaji Yusuf Kazaure of Galaxy Backbone Limited also spoke in details about the broadband and accessibility in Nigeria.

Several panels were convened featuring speakers cutting across Agriculture, ICT, E-commerce etc. to share experiences, industry insights, and interact with participants present. Some of them included Ugonna Uwaeze of Nkata.com; Uche Dim, founder of Fill Ya Tank; Jaheil, Founder of Hello Tractor; Dimgba Kalu, Co-founder of ProJaro, Dayo Kolewo of Chowhub, Angel Adelaja of Fresh Direct, and a host of others.

TechHer’s participation at the event both as a partner and session facilitator was made possible by the kind support of the Intel She Will Connect programme, and catered to the branded items distributed to participants at the event.

TechHer hosted a Masterclass Session on Digital marketing and Cybersecurity facilitated by Anna Egbagbe and Azeernah Mohammed. At the end of the day one event, TechHer gave out gift packs to all attendees. The gift items included TechHer branded T-shirts, TechHer customized Pens, and a book titled ‘Nameless’.

TechHer’s sessions enabled participants to

Unbox digital tricks, including email, content, and SMS marketing.

Provide a safe space for entrepreneurs to interact with experts on the topics to be taught, and other related matters.

Allow entrepreneurs present learn how social media enables businesses, and network with their peers

TechHer, a community for women working in and around technology helping other women to learn from each other/together, and supporting each other’s enterprises.

The hub held its first Legal Clinic at Yabans Restaurant Wuse 2 on 17thMarch 2016 with over 15 women and men in attendance.The event sought to unbundle business registration and taxation in Nigeria, sourcing and receiving start-up funding, with an open session for questions. The event was supported and live streamed on radio by Amplified Radio.

The opening session featured introduction of women, and business registration procedures. Miss Nana Nwachukwu urged start-up companies to register their business as business names and not as Limited Liability Company or NGO’swith Corporate Affairs Commission. She gave reasons for that, and explained exceptions too.

Miss Bukola, another volunteer lawyer in the room led the session on taxes and remittances, admonishing business owners to avoid penalties by ensuring their books were in order. She enlightened attendees on the two types of business registrations; business name and limited liability company registrations.

Also, attendees were intimated on a potential grant and benefits for the Association of Poultry Farmers in Abuja and the need for people working in the space to join the body.

Participants asked questions around trademarking, copyrights, and funding management. Fatima Bashir, one of the attendees asked which registration should come first for her new cosmetics business; Corporate Affairs Commission or Trademark body. It opened up a new discussion around trademarks, and how they “protect brand names, logo and other designs that identify your products to your customer.”Instances where either form of registration came first were given, with attendees told to strive to achieve both before commencing operations.

Andy Madaki, a cyber and info security analyst anchored the last session, with a talk on funding a business. Mr Andy advised attendees to raise money from their immediate environment (family), social media channels, international agencies in line with their pattern of business, grants, and scholarships from embassies.MrAndy shared several funding opportunities available to Nigerians by several foreign bodies.

The programme ended with closing remarks from Nana Nwachukwu and a networking session. Attendees left with branded gift items from TechHer.

On the 27th of November 2015, TechHer, a community of women working in an around technology organized its first ever Web Development class.

The class was in response to the needs of its budding community on ways their lives and business processes could be enhanced or further enabled by technology. Thirty-five women registered for the event.

Chioma Agwuegbo, Founder of TechHer talked briefly through blogging guides and sustainability and then the facilitators of the class, Damilola Anwo-Ade (Sprout Consulting) and Dimgba Kalu (ProJaro), gave an overview of web management and development.

WhoGoHost, Nigeria’s premier hosting and domain reseller, who gave 10 domains and hosting plans for a year as a gift to the women. A raffle was held to determine the winners of the domains and hosting plan, and the women have since registered their sites.

#TechHer held her inaugural event on Friday, 28th August at the Exhibition Hall of the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre. The bi-monthly event was conceived and organized by CC Consulting Services Limited. It aims to involve more women actively and productively in the ever-growing technology space in Nigeria and even the world at large.

“Women still need a solid support base in order to help them get a foothold in the tech industry”, said Huffington Post about #TechHer, and the event did that and more. It provided a platform for women to connect, interact and share experiences about how technology positively influences their everyday lives. The women who attended were enlightened by the topics from the various speakers Nana Nwachukwu on the marriage between law and technology, Florist Doreen Aninyei on growing her business via digital, Anna Egbagbe on effective digital marketing, etc. The ladies also got to speed date ‘TechHer style’, with the most effective networker winning N10, 000.

The serious discussions were balanced by moments of great fun such as the fishbowl raffle, which saw attendees going home with gifts and prizes including free coding classes, thousands of naira worth of airtime and data, vouchers for beauty treatments, and more.

Jackie Farris, host of the event and Director-General of the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Foundation gave the welcome speech. She welcomed attendees to the event, reminding them of the “knowledge transfer workshop the Foundation in partnership with some organizations has planned”. There was also a greeting from a representative of the Swedish Government, which is keenly interested in the concept of #TechHer.

#TechHer’s attendees ranged from women who are expert in technology, women with moderate knowledge, to novices with an interest or curiosity about the field. The event was free to attend, even though interested participants registered via email before the day. Chioma Agwuegbo, convener of the event, explained the vision for #TechHer, saying, “We are more powerful as a collective than as individual units struggling on our various levels of knowledge”

Those unable to attend were not left out as there was an audio and audiovisual live-stream provided by Amplified Radio and HolyHill Church respectively. Attendees were treated to light refreshments and branded souvenirs.

#TechHer was born out of a need to see women in Abuja come together to work, support each, and learn together. We realized there was no platform for women working in and around digital (especially in Abuja) to share ideas, experiences, challenges etc. for a number of reasons including the perception that technology is the exclusive preserve of male folk.

Where others saw a deficiency, we saw an opportunity and the product of that idea shared with friends, family, and partners, is this website, the inaugural event holding in Abuja on the 28th of August 2015, and hopefully, the birth of a true support group for young girls currently hoping to get into technology or STEM.

We are super excited about #TechHer because it was borne out of a need and is (and will always be) driven by passion. Initiating a community, nurturing a dream and seeing it come to reality is something we cannot but be thankful for.

What we are most amazed at however are the responses we’ve gotten! When we started planning, our modest expectations didn’t exceed 30 – 40 people at most. Imagine our surprise when we had over 50 people register on the first day! That number has since grown to over 110, and we now have the pleasant problem of space! Let’s not even talk about having to reopen registration because we had too many requests for that!

Another thing. All our speakers have been drawn from the attendees, and we’re excited at the knowledge in the room! They are

Blessing Orazulume: She is a programmer and software developer at Andela and is proficient with building web apps, mobile apps and also website. Blessing will be teaching software development.

Nana Nwachukwu: She is an Information Technology and intellectual property lawyer. She successfully completed a project on standards for ICT in Holograms and Barcodes for Nigeria. Nana will discuss the marriage between law and technology.

Anna Egbagbe: Anna is a digital marketing consultant and trainer with experience that cuts across various industries such as financial, real estate and Non-Profits. She has extensive marketing/PR experience and consumer engagement with brands on digital platforms. Anna will give insights on Digital Marketing.

Dumebi Chukwuka: A confident, highly driven IT Project Manager with years of experience in managing Federal, State and private projects that have varied from hardware to software implementation. Dumebi will focus on Digital Storytelling.

We’re looking forward to a goodwill message from the Swedish government, and a welcome address by Jackie W. Farris, Executive Director of the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Foundation.

If you can’t be in the room, don’t worry! We’ll be live streaming both for screens and for radio, thanks to the guys at HolyHill Church and Amplified Radio.

We’re also grateful to all our partners and supporters, where would we be without you?